Kansas Republican House leaders released a list of lawmakers Wednesday who will serve as chairs and vice chairs of House committees.

Although most, but not all, committees will be chaired by lawmakers who lean to the right, House Majority Leader-elect Ray Merrick of Stilwell said the Republican leadership team, which also includes House Speaker Mike O’Neal and Speaker Pro Tem Arlen Siegfried, focused more on results than ideology in making its choices.

“We have 77 Republicans in the House Republican caucus, and that’s how we have to look at it,” Merrick said. “We can’t look at it like there are 55 conservatives and 22 moderates, or whatever the numbers would be.”

He said Republican leaders tried to determine who, as chairs and vice chairs, would deliver “the most bang for the buck,” given their backgrounds and interests.

That’s why some continuity is evident in this year’s selections. For example, Reps. Clay Aurand and Deena Horst will return as chair and vice chair respectively of the House Education Committee, which is expected to be a lively committee this session, given the state’s budget crisis.

Similarly, Rep. Kevin Yoder, perceived by peers as something of a budget specialist, will be in the thick of budget battles as chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, a committee on which he served last session.

Ditto with Rep. Carl Holmes, who returns as chair of the Energy and Utilities Committee, which might be at the forefront of a renewed battle over the proposed expansion of a coal-fired power plant in Holcomb that was a dominant topic in the Legislature last year.

And then there’s Rep. Gary Hayzlett of Lakin, who returns as chair of the House Transportation Committee. It will be the sixth consecutive session in which he’s served in that capacity. And, he said he’s still looking forward to it, despite budget woes that will restrict legislators’ ability to fund new transportation projects.

“It is a job I enjoy but this year with funding the way it is, it’s going to be challenging,” Hayzlett said.

He added that the chance of a new comprehensive highway package being constructed and passed was relatively remote. “But I think it’s possible we could do something short-term that will help us finish up projects that are on the books until the bad times are over.”

Hayzlett said he did not lobby leaders for re-appointment to the position, this year or in the past.

“My feeling is if you do what you’re supposed to do as a committee chair, the House leaders will do what they should do,” he said. “Every speaker I’ve worked with has been very fair in the way they’ve made their appointments.”

Merrick said besides anticipated results, Republican leaders also had to be mindful of providing some geographic balance in its appointments.

He said as a Johnson Countian, his natural instinct would have been to slot as many Johnson Countians as possible into committee chairmanships.

“But it’s a big state, and we have to do our best to provide some geographic balance,” he said. “It’s a hard job.”

- Phil LaCerte

Resources:

• The 2009 House committees.
  

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